Took me long enough to get through this 196-page book about the entire history of Christmas, but I feel much more knowledgeable about the roots of Christmas trees, mid-winter festivities and the need for them, and the commercialization of Christmas.
Getting into this book, I thought it would be a heavy, factual, boring book about Christmas that I’d have to have a ton of eggnog at my disposal to get through it. But no, this book is a delight! The chapters break down the subject matter into clear sections, and the author himself gives a brief run-through about the entire book in the Introduction chapter. He also states that this book is for people who are turned off by academic books about Christmas, and want an easy to understand and fun way of learning more about this hallowed festival.
The first chapter “First There Was Winter” talks about how lights and evergreen decorations made their way into Christmas a.k.a. the pagan roots of Christmas. The second chapter “Christmas Comes Late” is mind-blowing, because it reveals facts about the Bible that I myself don’t know about! For example, did you know that Christian scriptures say very little about the birth of Christ, and there’s no actual mention of “three” wise men, the number of gifts were the only thing specified – gold frankincense, myrrh.
The third chapter “Christmas is like a Snowball” continues on the questions raised by the first two chapters – If the Bible didn’t provide us clarity about how a crib should be decorated, and if we are unsure whether Christ was born in winter or in spring, how did the Christmas tree become an important part of the festivities? The author provides a theory of the Snowball Effect, where Christmas travelled across the globe under different names and guises and picked up various features from various traditions. There’s also mention of the impact that Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert played in developing the image of Christmas in our minds.
The fourth chapter “From Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus” is, as you guessed it, about the evolution of the most iconic character in Christmas. There are images of all the themes covered in the book – mid-winter festivities, Charles Dickens reading a chapter from his book, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert celebrating Christmas, Saint Nicholas and many illustrations of Santa Claus! Fun fact – A poem by Clement Clark Moore titled ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ gives the first written illustration of the image of Santa Claus. You can read it here and let me know if you find one alarming inconsistency with the Santa in the poem and the Santa we see today!
The fifth chapter “And Then There Was Money” talks about the commercialization of Christmas, and whether Christmas has lost its spiritual meaning in the hubbub of buying presents, organising parties, sending out Holiday greetings. In the sixth and final chapter “Wrestling with Christmas”, the author presents and idea for how we can rectify this and be more spiritual and stay in touch with the actual meaning of Christmas.
I loved this book because of the detailed way in how years and centuries of research have been compacted into a 200 page book in a way that doesn’t make me feel like the author is droning on and on about something I couldn’t care less about. The insights into a festival from my own religion also gave me a new perspective, and reminded me about the real holiday spirit, which doesn’t stem only from gifts and movies and greeting cards and feasts, but with spending time as a family together. I’ll leave you with a song from my favourite Pentatonix – That’s Christmas To Me.
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